Each tape library comes configured with a robotic controller and bar code reader (to obtain quick and accurate tape inventories).
The libraries have either three or six TZ89N-AV drives. The TL896, because it has a greater number of drives, has a lower capacity for tape cartridge storage.
Each tape library utilizes bulk loading of bin packs, with each bin pack containing a maximum of 11 cartridges. Bin packs are arranged on an eight-sided carousel that provides either two or three bin packs per face. A library with three drives has a carousel three bin packs high. A library with six drives has a carousel that is only two bin packs high. This provides for a total capacity of 24 bin packs (264 cartridges) for the TL893, and 16 bin packs (176 cartridges) for the TL896.
The tape library specifications are as follows:
•TL893 — The TL893 ATL is a high-capacity, 264-cartridge tape library providing up to 18.4 TB of storage. The TL893 uses three fast-wide, differential TZ89N-AV DLT tape drives. It has a maximum transfer rate of almost 10 MB per second (compressed) for each drive, or a total of about 30 MB per second.
The TL893 comes configured for three SCSI-2 buses (a three-bus configuration). The SCSI bus connector is high-density 68-pin, differential.
•TL896 — The TL896 ATL is a high-capacity, 176-cartridge tape library providing up to 12.3 TB of storage. The TL896 uses six fast-wide, differential TZ89N-AV DLT tape drives. It also has a maximum transfer rate of almost 10 MB per second per drive (compressed), or a total of about 60 MB per second.
The TL896 comes configured for six SCSI-2 buses (a six-bus configuration). The SCSI bus connector is also high-density 68-pin, differential.
Both the TL893 and TL896 can be extended by adding additional cabinets (DS-TL893-AC for the TL893 or DS-TL896-AC for the TL896). See the TL82X Cabinet-to-Cabinet Mounting Instructions manual for information on adding additional cabinets. Up to five cabinets are supported with the TruCluster Server.
For TruCluster Server, the tape cartridges in all the cabinets are combined into one logical unit, with consecutive numbering from the first cabinet to the last cabinet, by an upgrade from the multi-unit, multi-LUN (MUML) configuration to a multi-unit, single-LUN (MUSL) configuration. See the TL82X/TL89X MUML to MUSL Upgrade Instructions manual for information on the firmware upgrade.
